Auckland Zoo || Part 7 {La Grande Finale!}

Before I move on to posting about other recent happenings (I can hear you all cheering!), enjoy these last images from our trip too Auckland Zoo. Obviously the sun was a bit harsh since we were there around the middle of the day, but considering these were all taken with my little sister's point-and-shoot/compact camera, I think they turned out all right! Maybe I'll head back for some more shooting practice once I get a dSLR! ;)

: : Selfie with a tortoise : : 

: : Why does it look so cute?! : :
In Aussie they look really fierce ;)

: : Yeah. It so wasn't that hot! : :

: : Gorgeous vibrant colours! : :

: :{Since I just love cats} : :
Aww!

: : And a cute little guinea pig . . . : : 

Auckland Zoo || Part 4 {Seals & Waterfalls}

 : : Seals : :

: : Couldn't find a way to slow the shutter speed so the water would go smooth and creamy :/ : :
Will have to go back when I get my camera ;) haha

: : Eww! : :

: : Reflection : :

: : A door. That I'm too tall for. :P : :

Auckland Zoo || Part 3 {Seals}

: : Eww... : :

: : Reflection : :

: : Love the contrast of those red flowers! : : 

 : : Yay the netting isn't so visible here! : :

: : Why did the camera have to focus on the background instead of the subject?! : :
Love those shells though!

: : Okay this came out so much better than it looked on the camera's screen! : :

Auckland Zoo || Part 2 {Lions, Flamingos, & Elephants}

: : I <3 :="" big="" cats="" td="">

: : Dozing in the warm sun : :

: : Flamingoes : :

: : Ouch that sun isn't good on the camera . . . struggling with overexposure big time here! :/ : :

Auckland Zoo || Part 1 {The Pridelands}

Amazing how I've only had my full [driver's license] for a couple months, it feels like forever; I can't imagine life without it! Several weeks after I got it, my friend Anne Roos and I made use of it and headed over to Auckland Zoo together. Since I took nearly 150 photos {146 to be exact ;)} I'm going to spread the good ones between a few posts! :)

: : Love giraffes! : :

: : Same pic, but landscape, which do you prefer? : :

: : Zebras . . . : :

: : Sorry about the quality, this is a small piece from the top of an image that didn't really turn out otherwise : :

: : Aww : :

My Sweet 16th :)

I wanted a memorable celebration for my sixteenth this year, and initially I thought something 'big'. Time slipped away on me though (and I couldn't really think of anything...), so we didn't actually finish organising this until the day before it all took place! 

In the end, the Sonnevelds came to our place around 12:30, and we piled into our people-mover {which I cleaned the night before - go me! :P} to pick up Middy and Becks before heading out to the Hunua Falls/Ranges.

Because we didn't end up having enough time for a long walk, we just went to the falls and then up to the lookout. Afterwards we got the food out of the car and headed for one of the picnic tables. Despite being somewhat gloomy, the weather held up throughout the afternoon, allowing us to enjoy ourselves without getting drenched!

Middy had previously committed to something else later in the afternoon, so dropped her home, then went to Manna Christian Bookstore while we waited for Anne Roos to be ready (she flew back to Auckland that afternoon), at which point we met her at Tenpin Manukau.

Two games later a tired lot of us came back to my place for the rest of the evening. 

While we had been all over town, my mum and siblings had been busy getting the house ready for us to arrive. They made beef casserole for dinner, along with dessert and cake (which we didn't end up icing or eating...oops!). They also pulled out our second dining table and set it up in the lounge for us {since you can't exactly fit five extra people around one!}. 

After dinner and dessert we claimed the lounge suite to watch Saving Sarah Cain. The food leftover from afternoon tea was completely forgotten but near the end we remembered the drinks ;)

By then end of the movie it was 10-ish and time for home and bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This was actually from another day;
it's the mud cake I made and decorated myself.
Yep, tough stuff making my own birthday cake! lol

Gifts from my family

Gifts from friends
See, 16 really is sweet!!!! :P :P